Iran Shows Military Might Amid 40th Anniversary

Yet, within a year and a half of the revolt, neighbouring Iraq declared war and invaded, backed by Western and Arab allies.

Decades later, Iranians speak of the revolution and the war in the same breath, two major upheavals that transformed the country and remain inextricably linked in the minds of Iranians.

At the time, post-revolution Iran was still finding its feet and was militarily unprepared for its first conflict. The eight-year war ended in a stalemate, with the deaths of an estimated one million Iranians and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.

Forty years later, Iran’s military leaders want everyone to believe that it will not happen again.